someone has taken a young man, hung him in a tree. who would do something this hideous? michael donald was an innocent good samaritan, not a thug. the mobile police department just didn t want to believe that mobile would still have klan in it. but they did. that s why we kept marching and protesting, letting them know we were going to take this lion down. the admitted klansmen turned to action as the words, guilty of capital murder, sank in. it was the first time since at least the early 1900s that a white had been sentenced to death for a crime committed against a black person in the state of alabama. beulah mae donald is grieving, but also seeking justice for her child. this is a black woman who s just lost her son to lynching. finds the strength to move forward in a civil suit against the klan in alabama. the stakes could not be higher. the body of a black man has been found hanging from a tree in mobile, alabama. lynching is a tool to control and oppr
suspected were klan members, but very few of them were actually apprehended. i thought to myself, if i ever get an opportunity to get on the other side of the fighting those that did it, i d do it in a minute. i decided i d go down to mobile and watch michael donald s criminal trial. i wanted to know everything i could. so following the criminal trial, that s when my father, michael figures, and morris dees teamed up to bring a $10 million civil suit against the klan. morris dees came and he talked to my mother. he says, i m going to get everything that you want for you, mrs. donald, because you have been good through this. i don t think i could go through this. he told her that. morris dees and senator michael figures went after the organization rather than the individuals. and a lot of people questioned whether he was going to be successful. the michael donald civil case was the first time that a jury